Problem with cats ear

flambardslover

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Hey everyone,
Yesterday one of my foster cats started acting strange. She is normally very energetic and since yesterday afternoon she has been very calm. She threw up yesterday and this morning she did not want to eat. Today I got home and the tips of her ears have flopped over, I looked closely and there are blisters. 
Any idea what this could be?
She is off to the vet but they had no appointments so we have to wait until they can fit us in. 
Has anyone seen this happen before? Any ideas what it could be?

Thanks :( 
 

stephanietx

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Never heard of blisters in the ear.  Hoping your vet can get you in quickly.
 
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flambardslover

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She was seen by the vet but they have NO idea what is causing this. They think it was an allergic reaction to something but we haven't introduced anything new.. 

Yesterday I noticed she was very calm after the adoption event. Then she threw up which had me worried. I figured it was stress from the event and decided I would not take her to anymore if this is the reaction. 
Then today she did not want breakfast. The rescue told me to wait until mid-day to see how she was. She has been finding quiet places to sleep so when I went and got her to check how she was feeling I noticed her ears had flopped down. I thought that was very strange, I have never seen this. Then when I looked closer I noticed blisters all over the outside of her ears. The vet said the area around her nose is also swollen, however, this is not very noticeable because I didn't pick up on that. 

She definitely has some sort of infection... we just have no idea what. No idea how she caught it either. She is such a good girl, I hope she gets better soon  We are taking her for a second opinion tomorrow because I would really like to know WHAT this is. At the moment, the vets are clueless besides knowing it's some sort of infection and they are assuming an allergic reaction to something (though we have introduced nothing new) so no idea at the moment :(  She is feeling a little better on the meds, eating and wanting to play... so that's a good sign! 

Here is a photo of her ears normally:


And here is a photo of her ears as of today :( 


 

stephanietx

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Very interesting!  Wonder if it's something like ringworm??  (I hope not)
 

smokem

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do you think she stuck her head somewhere and was exposed to something??

I dont know,cleaning fluids?? Do you have house plants?? Does she go outside??

This is a weird one.
 

onyxinky

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I don't think it's safe to just assume its an infection.

I am in no way trying to scare you but that's how my girl's ears started out when she was diagnosed with pemphigus foliaceus.  Please google and do research to see if it fits the symptoms/look of the lesions.

Only way to get confirmation is to do a skin biopsy~~please do not wait.  Ask your vet if they think pemphigus would be a possibility in this case because if it is, treatment needs to start right away because pemphigus is not a pleasant autoimmune disease and needs to get under control before it gets worse.  It took 4 months to get my peanut diagnosed and I just hope noone else ever has to wait that long for a diagnosis.

Good luck and I hope your kitty is doing okay right now :)
 

onyxinky

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Also just going to mention that not all vets even are familiar with pemphigus...although its a common autoimmune disease~its rare in cats so unfortunately that's why it took me awhile for diagnosis...finding a vet that even was good enough to suspect it!  

So glad to read that you are going for a second opinion tomorrow!
 
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flambardslover

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Thank you Onyxinky, I will definitely ask the vet today if that is a possibility. They have her on a broad spectrum  antibiotic and she is ACTING much better today, much more like herself. However, her nose and ears are still bad. The blisters on her nose have popped :( 

There is no way it is ringworm. I don't think that she would have acted the way she did just because of ringworm, also when I have helped cats with ringworm years ago, they never had blisters and their ears did not fold like that. They also did not act the way Blaire acted. She was sleeping all day when she is normally a very playful kitten. 

She does not go outside and we have no house plants. I don't think she got in to any chemicals, they are kept in a cupboard that the cats cannot get in to unless someone left it open :/ Which I have not seen anyone leave it open but I suppose that is a possibility... I hope not. 

Poor girl, I am hoping that the vet today knows what it is... if not, it's off for a third opinion.
 

onyxinky

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So were you able to get any answers on what is going on with your kitty?
 
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flambardslover

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The vets are confident that it was an allergic reaction to something. They gave her some medication and a steroid injection and her ears have perked up, she is acting much more like herself and eating well again. I brought up pemphigus foliaceus and the vet said that it is a possibility, but she isn't showing all the signs of it. However, they were going to do a biopsy if she didn't start getting better on the medications she is on. 

Here is a photo so you can compare :) 

 

onyxinky

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Awwwww~she's so adorable! ORAL steroids (prednisolone) is the main starting treatment for pemphigus so if there is even a slight chance (sounds like the vet said there is a chance), you should see improvement on the steroid. (if it does end up being pemphigus, the injectable steroid is not a good idea long term but I won't go into that now because she DOES NOT have pemphigus~hopeful thinking here! :)
Just be careful about the vet saying "not showing all the "classic" symptoms"...because my girl wasn't either~~it started at her ears and then went to her face eventually.....not showing in her nail beds (the "typical" case) until almost a year into the disease when the steroids weren't strong enough anymore to fend off the disease.

Once the steroid wears off, you'll see symptoms coming back.

PS: Ever since I lost my girl from this horrific disease this last May, I have become very passionate about getting the word out for getting cats diagnosed and treated in a timely manner...guess it's been kindof part of my healing but at the same time I don't want to be posting everywhere that someones cat has pemphigus either! So I'm just careful about scaring people~I hope I haven't done that! Just trying to put putting awareness out there.

Enjoy your sweetie~again, she's adorable! Keep me updated if you'd like! :)
 
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flambardslover

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You aren't scaring me, I am really thankful you told me because I had no idea about that! She is still doing really well. Her ears have healed so well and the scabs on her nose are almost completely gone. If this comes back again, then the vet said she would suspect it was pemphigus. 

I am really hopeful it is not though. So sorry for the loss of your girl :( That's terrible, but I am so glad that I am now aware of this! 
 
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